By Josh
A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to attend the Single-A All-star game at a stadium I had never been too. Going to new stadiums is always a thrill for me. I get to see what other fans get to see and compare the new stadiums with my favorite stadiums in the northwest.
Let me begin by saying that I have never found a bad seat at a minor league stadium. The stadiums are small enough that no matter where you sit you are close to the action. Rancho is no exception and the seats in this stadium are great. It does get hot in the sun, but what else should a fan expect in southern California. Once the sun drops down the stadium is as good as any minor league stadium I’ve seen.
I didn’t get a chance to try much of the food, so I can’t say if their specialty foods are good or not. They have all of the regular ball park foods that you would see and I got to try the chicken strips and fries. I don’t have any complaints about them.
Now I did go during the all-star game and it was a lot of fun. Things weren’t as organized as I’ve seen at other ball parks for events like this but the effort was clearly there. The autograph time was needing some improvements but I think that is more because the Quakes staff underestimated the desire of autographers to get the big name prospects.
The home run derby was a great part of the festivities. They added the element of having regular guys try and enter the contest by having a softball home run derby on a field outside of the stadium before everything got going. I did my best to get into the big home run derby but I’m better at hitting a smaller ball coming in flat to me than I am a big ball coming in at an arc. Two guys got in and did what you would expect, zero home runs and just trying to hit the ball out of the infield. I wish that the competition to get in would have been hitting off of a pitching machine and not an underhand soft ball pitch. Would have gotten hitters in that were used to hitting flat and faster pitches, which does make a difference.
For the all-star game tickets were a reasonable price, and I would assume the same for regular season games. Parking was easy and wasn’t that expensive.
In all I would rate my overall thoughts of the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes stadium an easy B+ and probably even an A-. It was a great experience and I have no doubt that in the future when I’m visiting Disneyland, which I do far more than someone living in Washington State should, I will check the schedule to see if I can run over and watch another game at a great minor league stadium like Rancho Cucamonga.